Elizabeth von Arnim (31 August 1866 – 9 February 1941), born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an English novelist. Born in Australia, she married a German aristocrat, and her earliest works are set in Germany. Her first marriage made her Countess von Arnim-Schlagenthin and her second Elizabeth Russell, Countess Russell. After her first husband's death, she had a three-year affair with the writer

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

, then later married Frank Russell, elder brother of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winner and philosopher

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

. She was a cousin of the New Zealand-born writer

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the Literary modernism, modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world and have been ...

. Though known in early life as May, her first book introduced her to readers as Elizabeth, which she eventually became to friends and finally to family. Her writings are ascribed to Elizabeth von Arnim. She used the pseudonym Alice Cholmondeley for only one novel, '' Christine'', published in 1917.

Early life

She was born at her family's home on Kirribilli Point in Sydney, Australia, to Henry Herron Beauchamp (1825–1907), a wealthy shipping merchant, and Elizabeth (nicknamed Louey) Weiss Lassetter (1836–1919). She was called May by her family. She had four brothers and a sister.Arnim, Jasper von (2003
Elizabeth von Arnim
von-arnim.net. Retrieved 24 July 2020 One of her cousins was the New Zealand-born Kathleen Beauchamp, who wrote under the pen name

. When she was three years old, the family moved to England, where they lived in London but also spent several years in Switzerland.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition (UK library card required): ''Arnim, Mary Annette [May] von''
Retrieved 5 March 2014. Arnim was the

first cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...

of Mansfield's father, Harold Beauchamp, making her the first cousin once removed of Mansfield. Although Elizabeth was older by 22 years, she and Mansfield later corresponded, reviewed each other's works, and became close friends. Mansfield, ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, lived in the Montana region of Switzerland (now

Crans-Montana Crans-Montana is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Sierre (district), Sierre in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais, Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Valais, ...

) from May 1921 until January 1922, renting the Chalet des Sapins with her husband

John Middleton Murry John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...

from June 1921. The house was only a "1/2 an hour's scramble away" from Arnim's Chalet Soleil at Randogne. Arnim visited her cousin often during this period. They got on well, although Mansfield considered the much wealthier Arnim to be patronizing. Mansfield satirized Arnim as the character Rosemary in a short story, " A Cup of Tea", which she wrote while in Switzerland. Arnim studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, principally learning the organ.

Personal life

On 21 February 1891, Elizabeth married the widowed German aristocrat Count (1851–1910) in London, whom she had met on a tour of Italy with her father two years earlier.Maddison, Isobel (2016) ''Elizabeth von Arnim: Beyond the German Garden''. Abingdon: Routledge. He was the eldest son of the late Count Harry von Arnim, the former German Ambassador to France. At first they lived in Berlin, then in 1896 moved to what was then Nassenheide,

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

(now Rzędziny in Poland), where the Arnim family had a landed estate. They had four daughters and a son, born between December 1891 and October 1901. In 1899, Henning von Arnim was arrested and imprisoned for fraud but was later acquitted. At the time of the

1901 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census 1901 was the 11th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was done on 31 March 1901 "relating to the persons returned as living at midnight on Sunday, March 31st". The total pop ...

, on 1 April 1901, Arnim was in England, staying with her uncle Henry Beauchamp at The Retreat, Bexley, without any of her children. Her son Henning Bernd was born in London in October 1902. The children's tutors at Nassenheide included E. M. Forster, who worked there for several months in the spring and summer of 1905.R. Sully (2012
''British Images of Germany: Admiration, Antagonism & Ambivalence, 1860–1914''
p. 120, New York: Springer. Retrieved 20 July 2020 (Google Books). Forster wrote a short memoir of the months he spent there. From April to July 1907 the writer

Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among ...

was the children's tutor. In 1908, Elizabeth von Arnim moved to London with the children. The couple did not consider this a formal separation, although the marriage had been unhappy, owing to the Count's affairs, and they had slept in separate bedrooms for some time. In 1910, financial problems meant the Nassenheide estate had to be sold. Later that year, Count von Arnim died in

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen () is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and County town, seat of the Bad Kissingen (district), district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale, Franconia ...

, with his wife and three of their daughters by his side.Römhild, Juliane (2014) ''Femininity and Authorship in the Novels of Elizabeth von Arnim: At Her Most Radiant Moment'', pp. 16–24. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. In 1911, Elizabeth moved to Randogne, Switzerland, where she had the Chalet Soleil built, and entertained literary and society friends. From 1910 until 1913, she was a mistress of the novelist

. In 1916, the Arnims' daughter Felicitas, who had been at boarding schools in Switzerland and Germany, died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

aged sixteen in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. She had been unable to return to England because of travel and financial controls caused by the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

.Juliane Roemhild, (30 May 1916
Elizabeth von Arnim Society. 2016 Centenary Note: Two Wartime Tragedies
Retrieved 23 July 2020.

Second marriage and separation, house moves, and death

In January 1916, Arnim married

Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, known as Frank Russell (12 August 18653 March 1931), was a British nobleman, barrister and politician, the elder brother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell, and the grandson of John Russell, 1st ...

, the elder brother of the philosopher

. The marriage ended in acrimony, with the couple separating in 1919, although they never divorced. She then went to the United States, where her daughters Liebet and Evi were living. In 1920 she returned to her home in Switzerland, using it as a base for frequent trips to other parts of Europe. In the same year, she embarked on an affair with Alexander Stuart Frere (1892–1984), who later became chairman of the publishing house Heinemann. Frere, 26 years her junior, initially went to stay at the Chalet Soleil to catalogue her large library, and a romance ensued. The affair lasted several years. In 1933, Frere married the writer and theater critic Patricia Wallace, and Arnim was the godmother of the couple's only daughter Elizabeth (later Elizabeth Frere Jones) who was named in her honour. In 1930, Arnim set up a home in

Mougins Mougins (; ; ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southeastern France. It is located on the heights of Cannes, in the arrondissement of Grasse. Mougins is a 15-minute drive from Ca ...

in the south of France, seeking a warmer climate. She created a rose garden there and called the house ''Mas des Roses''. She continued to entertain her social and literary circle there, as she had done in Switzerland. She kept this house to the end of her life, although she moved to the United States in 1939 at the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She died of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

at the Riverside Infirmary,

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, on 9 February 1941, aged 74, and was cremated at Fort Lincoln Cemetery,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. In 1947 her ashes were mingled with those of her brother, Sir Sydney Beauchamp, in the churchyard of St Margaret's, Tylers Green,

Penn, Buckinghamshire Penn is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of Beaconsfield and east of High Wycombe. The parish's cover Penn village and the hamlets of Penn Street, Knotty Green, Forty Green and Winchmore Hill. The po ...

. The Latin inscription on her tombstone reads ''parva sed apta'' (small but apt), alluding to her short stature.

Literary career

Arnim launched her career as a writer with her satirical and semi-autobiographical '' Elizabeth and Her German Garden'' (1898). Published anonymously, it chronicled the protagonist Elizabeth's struggles to create a garden on the family estate and her attempts to integrate into German aristocratic

Junker Junker (, , , , , , ka, იუნკერი, ) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German , meaning 'young nobleman'Duden; Meaning of Junker, in German/ref> or otherwise 'young lord' (derivation of and ). The term is traditionally ...

society. In it, she fictionalized her husband as "The Man of Wrath". It was reprinted twenty times by May 1899, a year after its publication. A bitter-sweet memoir and companion to it was ''The Solitary Summer'' (1899). By 1900, Arnim's books had such success that the identity of "Elizabeth" caused newspaper speculation in London, New York and elsewhere. Other works, such as ''The Benefactress'' (1902), ''The Adventures of Elizabeth on Rügen'' (1904), ''

Vera Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...

'' (1921), and ''Love'' (1925), were also semi-autobiographical. Some titles ensued that deal with protest against domineering ''Junkertum'' and witty observations of life in provincial Germany, including ''The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight'' (1905) and ''Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther'' (1907). She would sign her twenty or so books, after the first, initially as "by the author of ''Elizabeth and Her German Garden''" and later simply as "By Elizabeth". In 1909, ''The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight'' was turned into a play called ''The Cottage in the Air'', and in 1929 into the film '' The Runaway Princess'', directed by

Anthony Asquith Anthony Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among other adaptations ...

and starring Mady Christians. Although Arnim never wrote a conventional autobiography, ''All the Dogs of My Life'' (1936), an account of her love for her pets, contains many glimpses of her glittering social circle.

Reception

Arnim's 1921 novel ''Vera'', a dark tragi-comedy drawing on her disastrous marriage to Earl Russell, was her most critically acclaimed work, described by

as "''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' by

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

". Her 1922 work, '' The Enchanted April'', inspired by a month-long holiday to the Italian Riviera, is perhaps the lightest and most ebullient of her novels. It has regularly been adapted for the stage and screen: as a Broadway play in 1925, a 1935 American feature film, an Academy Award-nominated feature film in 1992 (starring

Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in ...

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades ...

and

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier (; 28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025), commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned over six decades. She received several accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, an ...

among others), a Tony Award-nominated stage play in 2003, a musical play in 2010, and in 2015 a serial on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. Terence de Vere White credits ''The Enchanted April'' with making the Italian resort of

Portofino Portofino (; ) is a ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is clustered around its small harbour, and is known for the colourfully painted buildings that line the shore. Since the late 19th centur ...

fashionable.Terence De Vere White, Introduction to ''The Enchanted April'', Virago: 1991 It is also, probably, the most widely read of all her works, having been a Book-of-the-Month club choice in America upon publication. Her 1940 novel ''Mr. Skeffington'' was made into an Academy Award-nominated feature film by Warner Bros. in 1944, starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

and

Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British and American actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations for Academy Award for Best Supp ...

, and a 60-minute "

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...

" broadcast radio adaptation of the movie on 1 October 1945. Since 1983, the British publisher Virago has been reprinting her work with new introductions by modern writers, some of which claim her as a feminist. ''The Reader's Encyclopedia'' reports that many of her later novels are "tired exercises", but this opinion is not widely held. Perhaps the best example of Arnim's mordant wit and unusual attitude to life is provided in one of her letters: "I'm so glad I didn't die on the various occasions I have earnestly wished I might, for I would have missed a lot of lovely weather."Letter to Maud Ritchie, quoted by Deborah Kellaway in introduction to ''The Solitary Summer'', Virago: 1993

Select bibliography

* '' Elizabeth and Her German Garden'' (1898) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''The Solitary Summer'' (1899) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''The April Baby's Book of Tunes'' (1900) (Illustrated by

Kate Greenaway Catherine Greenaway (17 March 18466 November 1901) was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School of ...

) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''The Benefactress'' (1901) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''The Ordeal of Elizabeth'' (1901; draft of a novel, published posthumously) * ''The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen'' (1904) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* '' Princess Priscilla's Fortnight'' (1905) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther'' (1907) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''The Caravaners'' (1909) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''The Pastor's Wife'' (1914) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* '' Christine'' (1917) (written under the pseudonym Alice Cholmondeley) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''Christopher and Columbus'' (1919) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''In the Mountains'' (1920) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''

'' (1921) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* '' The Enchanted April'' (1922) �
online at Project Gutenberg
* ''Love'' (1925) * ''Introduction to Sally'' (1926) * ''Expiation'' (1929) (Reprinted by Persephone Books in 2019) * ''Father'' (1931) * ''The Jasmine Farm'' (1934) * ''All the Dogs of My Life'' (autobiography, 1936) * ''Mr. Skeffington'' (1940) �
online at Project Gutenberg Australia

Notes

Sources * * * *

Other biographies

* Joyce Morgan, ''The Countess from Kirribilli''. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2021 * *

Katie Roiphe Katie Roiphe (born July 13, 1968) is an American author and journalist. She is best known as the author of the non-fiction book '' The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus'' (1993). She is also the author of ''Last Night in Paradise: S ...

, ''Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910–1939''. New York: Dial Press, 2008 * Jennifer Walker, ''Elizabeth of the German Garden – A Literary Journey''. Brighton: Book Guild, 2013

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnim, Elizabeth Von 1866 births 1941 deaths Writers from Sydney Elizabeth Russell Countesses in Germany British women novelists 19th-century British novelists 20th-century British novelists 19th-century British women writers 20th-century British women writers Deaths from influenza in the United States Infectious disease deaths in South Carolina 19th-century Australian writers Colony of New South Wales people Writers from New South Wales